New Jersey stays blue

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For political observers and operatives, the takeaways from Tuesday's elections go deeper than the Democrats' very bad day in Virginia, New Jersey, and (yes, really) Long Island, New York. Notwithstanding the fact that history is on the side of the party not in the White House, there are good reasons for Democrats to be worried about the future. Foremost among them, it appears that Republicans have figured out how to run in the post-Trump era, effectively threading the needle by saying just enough to activate the base while maintaining a broader. non-offensive appeal and keeping him at arm's length; moreover, voters simply aren't buying it when Democrats link their GOP opponents to Trump—they're ready to move on and deal with substantive issues. This leads to the second source of agita: Democrats need to find answers on education and race that resonate and get them off the defensive. Instead, what we heard were surface-level talking points devoid of inspiration and deficient in their ability
to energize voters. Long story short, Democrats have a lot of self-reflection ahead of them if they are to have any shot of winning in '22 or '24. —Richie Alicea, Digital Director, Stand Up Republic

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** Murphy breaks a record…just barely
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Election Day wasn't all doom and gloom for Democrats. Gov. Phil Murphy won a second term in New Jersey—a feat not accomplished by any other Democratic governor in the Garden State since 1977. Murphy defeated Jack Ciattarelli by a razor-thin margin in a race that was too close to call on Election Night. In fact, Ciattarelli initially seemed poised to pull off a surprise victory, when he led Murphy in early returns deep into the evening, on the strength of suburban and traditionally conservative parts of the state. But it ultimately wasn't enough for the upstart Republican. There were other firsts for Democrats as well... —NJ.com ([link removed])
* — Boston. Michelle Wu, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants and a Boston Public Schools mother who ran an unabashedly progressive campaign, captured the Boston mayoralty by a wide margin on Tuesday. It's an historic victory for several reasons. Wu is not only the first woman and first person of color elected mayor, but at 36, also the youngest in nearly a century. She will be the city's first mayor in over a century who was not born and raised in Boston, and with two young sons, she will be the first mother elected to lead City Hall. —The Boston Globe ([link removed])
*
* — Cincinnati. Aftab Pureval is Cincinnati's next mayor, after nabbing a whopping 66% of the vote. He'll be the first Asian-American mayor in the city's history and the only one in the Midwest. "We made history in Cincinnati," Pureval said to supporters who gathered to celebrate his win. "[My parents] came to this country to provide a better life for their sons. Because of that incredible decision, our family went from being refugees to mayor of Cincinnati." —Cincinnati Enquirer ([link removed])
*
* — Detroit. Voters in three Detroit suburbs chose, for the first time, mayors who are both Muslim and Arab-American in local elections on Tuesday, marking a shift in political power in a region that has the largest concentration of Arab-Americans in the U.S. Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, and Hamtramck, all located in southeastern Michigan, have seen decades of economic growth and cultural advancement driven by Arab-American immigration and investment, but these groups have struggled with representation. Until now. —PBS ([link removed])

MORE: Biden diagnoses election loss in Virginia: 'People are upset and uncertain' —Yahoo! News ([link removed])


** Wolf: America's electoral correction
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"This is a more moderate and centrist country than activists on either the right or left let on, and Donald Trump fever may be breaking. The system is working. Here's one thing everybody can be happy about: The election results, for the most part, are not being questioned. That may have a lot to do with Republicans doing well. But the results should prove to them that Trump's voter fraud myth is in fact a myth." —Zachary Wolf on ([link removed]) CNN ([link removed])

Zachary Wolf is a senior political analyst at CNN.

MORE: A new anti-Trump defamation suit shows one way forward against the Big Lie —Slate ([link removed])


** Another 'no' on voting rights
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In a 50-49 vote, Senate Republicans blocked the chamber from starting debate on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act yesterday, marking the latest setback for new elections legislation. The bill would update the 1965 Voting Rights Act to strengthen sections gutted by a 2013 Supreme Court decision, which eliminated preclearance before some states could change their voting laws. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promised Republicans that if they voted in favor of debate, he would let them propose amendments to the bill. But it didn't work. Only one Republican voted in favor—Sen. Lisa Murkowski. "Every American deserves equal opportunity to participate in our electoral system and political process, and this bill provides a starting point as we seek broader bipartisan consensus on how best to ensure that," she said. Too bad her Republican colleagues disagreed. —The Hill ([link removed])

MORE: Pew survey of global attitudes finds few believe American democracy is a good example —The Washington Post ([link removed])


** Craig: A permanent end to the peaceful transition?
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"If Trump runs again, a near certainty, and the 2024 election result is close, the country could face a constitutional crisis with a potential for political violence that would make 2020 look tame. The best way to thwart that outcome is to be prepared for the legal and constitutional vulnerabilities that the Trump team is likely to target—and address them in advance. American presidential elections require an intricate series of steps from the local level all the way up to a joint session of Congress. Each step requires officials to scrupulously follow their legal obligations. Although courts can intervene and stop bad actors at lower levels early in the process, that becomes increasingly harder at higher levels at later stages." —Andy Craig on ([link removed]) The Unpopulist ([link removed])

Andy Craig is a staff writer at the Cato Institute and a former campaign staffer for Gov. Gary Johnson.

MORE: Brad Raffensperger, who defied Trump, warns on future elections —USA Today ([link removed])
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** WSJ Ed Board: Reform, don't defund
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"Minneapolis was the birthplace of the defund the police movement, but on Tuesday more than 56% of voters rejected a proposal to abolish the police department. … Violent crime is up nearly 30% in Minneapolis this year compared to the first 10 months of 2019. The police force has lost about a third of its officers, and response times for 911 calls now average about 15 minutes. Minneapolis voters were mugged by reality." — ([link removed]) The Wall Street Journal ([link removed])

MORE: Ahmaud Arbery trial: Judge finds 'intentional discrimination' in jury selection but allows trial to move forward with one Black member —CNN ([link removed])


** Focus on immigration
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At a press briefing yesterday, President Biden appeared to reject a plan that had been floated to compensate certain migrant families who had been separated at the border. In negotiations with lawyers representing the families, some administration officials called for the migrants to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars for the damage inflicted by Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, which led to the separation of about 5,500 children from their parents. ([link removed])
* — "$450,000 per person? Is that what you're saying?" That's the amount representatives of the migrant families and government officials had discussed giving each family member affected by the policy. However, when asked by Fox News reporter Peter Doocy about the compensation plan, Biden said, "That's not going to happen." ([link removed])
*
* — The remark was swiftly condemned by the American Civil Liberties Union, which is advocating on behalf of the separated families. Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU, said in a statement, "We respectfully remind President Biden that he called these actions 'criminal' in a debate with then-President Trump, and campaigned on remedying and rectifying the lawlessness of the Trump Administration." ([link removed])
*
* — It's not the only criticism Biden has received. Republicans have found fault with the administration's handling of rising illegal border crossings. Democrats, meanwhile, aren't happy that Biden has kept a controversial Trump-era asylum policy in place—seemingly breaking a campaign pledge to restore an asylum program at the border. The policy rapidly turns away migrants without providing them a chance to apply for asylum in the U.S. —The New York Times ([link removed])


** Gehl & Haidt: Change elections, save democracy
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"We need to cancel party primaries. They are the single greatest reason Congress can't deliver consensus solutions to our most pressing national challenges. In most jurisdictions, senators and congresspeople answer to that small subset of more politically extreme primary voters, and that means they can't really afford to work on behalf of all of the constituents they are supposed to represent." —Katherine Gehl & Jonathan Haidt in ([link removed]) TIME ([link removed])

Katherine Gehl is a former CEO, the founder of The Institute for Political Innovation, and the co-author of "The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save our Democracy." Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University's Stern School of Business and the author of "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion."

While Tuesday was a good day for Republicans, an analysis of the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey shows it was not a good day for Donald Trump.

In cities, suburbs, and even rural areas, two Republican gubernatorial candidates who sometimes struggled to keep their distance from Trump performed far better, often by double digits, than Trump did in 2020.

The message should be clear to Republicans who want to win back the Congress in 2022 and the presidency in 2024: Embracing Trump wholeheartedly is a recipe for not just defeat, but disaster.

If the Republican Party has any sense, it will kick Trump and his acolytes to the curb and nominate a Republican who can win in 2024, such as John Kasich or Mitt Romney.

But while Democrats are understandably gloomy over Tuesday's results, they can take heart in knowing that the current Republican Party seems utterly devoid of common sense. —Jim V., New York

Don't hold your breath, folks, on a reformed Republican Party. It is irredeemable. The time has come for the patriotic conservatives left in this country to form a new party. —Paul G., Idaho

Well said, Bill T. of Arizona. The Democrats are acting spineless, the Republicans are acting brainless. Very few are willing to take a risk for truth. Appeasing fascists does not end well. I too fear for our republic. —Ann R., Washington

Bill T. of Arizona is completely right! I too have been waiting and waiting for the Democrats to do something—anything—to justify the many contributions I gave them before the 2020 elections. I felt that the Republicans, by making Trump their king, were trying to bring down our government—they were being traitors to our country. But the Democrats don't seem to have any desire but to fight with each other! I might as well have not donated any money rather than see it wasted on constant infighting. I've come to wonder which is worse, the party of evil or the party of stupidity. —Jean B., Kansas
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** The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.
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